Hi.I'm the Canuck who bought the Omega 98 from Rasage Poulin.I already had a Omega 48,the bristle looks to be the same in both I just liked the handle.I've been wet shaving for about 2 1/2 years & own about 35 (so i'm no expert)brushes,shavemac,simpson,rooney,vulfix,kent,vdh,customs........etc,looking for the best soap brush to suit my tastes for a soap brush & Omega boars are my first choice,incredible face latherers once you break them in.Once the hairs split you're in the zone.Once you scrub around a bit(no prickle) & then use a painting motion,it feels super slippery & silky.I also found it to be the brush of choice when in a hurry to make a lather quickly.My badgers are my favorites for creams,but my Omega boars(I have 4)are the weapons of choice for soaps.Hope this helps...(Note): None of my Omega boars have shed yet that I have noticed.I also bought a Semogue 750-II (20-21 mm knot) from Rasage Poulin & it is a great little soap & cream brush with backbone,yet splays easily on the face.I currently do not own a better all around brush in the $60.00 price range...Vic.
Thanks for the report Vic, and welcome aboard! I'm almost certain to end up ordering a 98 to add to my small collection. I uses soaps exclusively at least for now, I may try some creams later on. I actually started out with cream and switched to soaps and just seem to like them better. Probably more for the actual mug and soap exprience than any superiority of one over the other. I just like the soap and mug thing. But The only creams I've used are the cheap durgstore variety ie palmalovie, williams, gillette etc so it may be fun to try some proraso and some others as time goes on, we'll see. I used my Tweezerman badger brush again this morning, this time with a VDH soap and it did a better job there than it did with the Institut Karite, working up a nice thick lather and still hasn't lost a single hair but I still don't like its size, it's just so tiny for my big hands and I still got that "prickly" feeling from it. Not "scratchy" but prickly, like little tiny needles sticking me. I don't get that with my Boar brushes. Has anyone else noticed this with badger or is it just me?
Since starting this thread a few days ago, I’ve been using a wood handle Omega boar brush. Just like this one: In the old days when all I used was that brush, I strictly used soaps. Well, for the last two days I’ve been using the boar brush with Godrej’s menthol mist cream and the results have been interesting. The brush doesn’t whip up lather so much as it loads it into the bristles; then when I lather my face the cream comes out and lathers up very nicely. Also, I noticed in some Godrej commercials on the internet, the guy using the cream simply squeezes out a bit of it onto the end of his boar brush and then face lathers (very effectively too!). The bottom line is: a boar brush can be used with creams, they (for me) just don’t perform the same was a badger brush. Oh, it was great fun too!
